How To Become A Senior Application Programmer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior application programmer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Experts

Brian Glas,

John Russo

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior application programmer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $54.63 an hour? That's $113,636 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -7% and produce -17,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Senior Application Programmer?

Brian Glas

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Union University

Build relationships: Different technologies will interest and challenge you, but throughout your career, you'll find that it's the relationships that are the most important. This is harder to grasp earlier in your career, but much easier to understand after 15-20 years.
Gain different perspectives: Spend time with people in other roles that your job interacts with, and gain a solid understanding of how they view things; this is most valuable for career progression and understanding of how your work fits into the big picture.

ScoreSenior Application ProgrammerUS Average

Salary

8.0

Avg. Salary $113,636

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.1

Growth Rate -7%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 16.93%

Black or African American 4.99%

Hispanic or Latino 8.81%

Unknown 4.70%

White 64.39%

Gender

female 21.13%

male 78.87%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress Level

5.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.3

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.7

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior application programmer

Explore senior application programmer education requirements

Most common senior application programmer degrees

Bachelor's

65.3 %

Master's

17.8 %

Associate

11.8 %

Start to develop specific senior application programmer skills

Skills	Percentages
Java	19.65%
Database	8.17%
JavaScript	5.30%
Debugging	4.76%
API	4.43%

Complete relevant senior application programmer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior application programmers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior application programmer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior application programmer resumes.

Research senior application programmer duties and responsibilities

Utilize Unix in monitoring system, capturing exports and modifying shell scripts to automate test file drops.
Lead solutions engineering that involve process automation, macro conversion and functionality enhancement.
Develop using Java SE for flexibility in graphic user interface.
Create reports in HTML and send them to queue in MSMQ.

Get senior application programmer experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a senior application programmer. The most common roles before becoming a senior application programmer include applications programmer, programmer team lead and programmer analyst.

Prepare your senior application programmer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior application programmer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior application programmer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Application Programmer Resume templates

Build a professional Senior Application Programmer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Senior Application Programmer resume.

Apply for senior application programmer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior application programmer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average senior application programmer salary

The average Senior Application Programmer salary in the United States is $113,636 per year or $55 per hour. Senior application programmer salaries range between $82,000 and $156,000 per year.

Average Senior Application Programmer Salary

$113,636 Yearly

$54.63 hourly

How do senior application programmers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Senior Application Programmer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019

Pros

The opportunity to take lead and mentor junior programmers

Cons

Working with Junior programmers who won't take your advice/direction even if you have a sound argument